


never say

by havisham



Series: havisham's SASO 2017 works collection [19]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Break Up, Getting Back Together, Jealousy, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Realizations, Slouching Towards Maturity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-14 05:18:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11201268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/havisham/pseuds/havisham
Summary: Aomine and Kagami are together. But then Aomine goes and does something.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thimble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thimble/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO Bonus Round 2: Tic-Tac-Toe for the [prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22249.html?thread=11660521#cmt11660521) _AoKaga, C3: things you said i wasn't meant to hear._

Taiga’s voice was naturally loud, and the way it bounced around the apartment showed how he still unused to sharing space with someone. Daiki had fallen asleep just as soon as he’d come back from practice and dragged himself to the shower. He’d even declined dinner, which should’ve alerted anyone to how off he was feeling. 

But Taiga only nodded, looking distracted as he shoved a mound of rice into his mouth. Daiki felt slightly sick, watching him, so he’d gone to bed instead. 

He woke up what felt like hours later, still groggy and still with damp hair clinging to the back of his neck. 

In the other room, Taiga was talking to someone. 

At first, Daiki thought it must’ve been Kuroko, either dropping by or on the phone, but Taiga’s voice had that intimate rumble that he thought had been reserved only for himself. 

They’d been together for a couple of years now, lasting through college and the first part of their professional careers. Taiga had gone back to the States, for a while, to play there, while Daiki tried his luck here.

(He had lots of people tell him that he was stupid, that he was wasting time in Japan, but fuck all of that. This was his home, after all, and besides, he didn’t like America, or Americans. Taiga excepted. Sometimes.) 

But now and finally, Daiki and Taiga were in the same country, in the same apartment together again. It was only for six months, until Taiga’s contract lapsed, but Daiki thought that after years of waiting, this was it. This was the life he wanted. 

“I haven’t told him yet,” Taiga said in English, and Daiki inched the bedroom door a little bit open to hear what he was saying. “I have to time it right, or else he’ll freak out.” 

He chuckled. “No, he hates surprises. You should’ve seen the wrestling move he put on me when I tried to throw him a surprise birthday party.” 

Daiki pulled back like he’d been slapped. Who was Taiga talking to in that familiar, comfortable way? And about him, no less? What news did he have to break to him gently? 

All at once, Daiki realized. It had been too good to be true after all. Taiga was planning to break up with him. And the guy on the phone -- must’ve been someone he met when he was playing in America. 

When they’d first gotten together, it was Daiki who had insisted on no commitments, of both of them moving on when one of them didn’t want what they had anymore. Taiga had agreed to it, reluctantly. 

But now it was Daiki who wanted to hold on. 

It was hard for Daiki not to be selfish. He thought it was built into him, wired into his brain. But he thought he could try not to be selfish for Taiga. He decided on what he had to do. Then, he fell asleep again, because there was no reason to waste a good nap time.

*

He was shaken awake by Taiga, who peered down at him worriedly. “Oi,” he said, “you’ve been asleep for hours. Aren’t you hungry?’ 

As if in reply, Daiki’s stomach grumbled loudly. 

Taiga grinned. “C’mon, there’s some stuff in the fridge.” 

*

He had to work up to it, he reasoned. So he needed his strength, which was why he ate with single minded concentration. 

Taiga noticed his unusual focus and laughed. “What’s with that face? Don’t break your brain by thinking too much.” 

Daiki stuck his tongue out him and grinned when Taiga winced. 

“Chew your food properly, will you? So gross.” 

“Fuck off,” Daiki said, swallowing the last of his dinner.

“Taiga,” he said, seriously. “We gotta talk.” 

“About what?” 

“We should break up.” 

Taiga’s grin slid off his face. “What? Why?” 

Oh. So he didn’t want to take any of the responsibility? That was fine by him. Daiki would have to play the villain, then. He rolled his eyes, using the haughty voice he hadn’t used since high school. “Because I’m bored of playing house with you, that’s why. This shit’s not real anyway.” 

 

*

It was amazing, really, how easy it was to destroy your own happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, guess what Kagami was planning to do. (Just guess.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO 2017, Bonus Round 2: Tic-Tac-Toe, for the [prompt](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22249.html?thread=11660521#cmt11660521): _aokaga, things you said with too many miles between us_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the journey continues??? Fyi, I'm a huge sap.

The realization that he’d made a colossal mistake was almost instant. 

But he couldn’t back out, not now, not when -- anyway, what was the point? Taiga was gone, he’d left almost as soon as they’d stopped talking. He’d taken some of his things and went, muttering something about crashing at Kuroko’s place. 

When Daiki returned home from work the next day, the apartment he’d shared with Taiga seemed bare, something essential having been stripped away. 

Daiki didn’t dwell on that emptiness, however. He began to colonize his own space, letting his clothes lay where they dropped, scattering around the porn that he’d kept hidden when Taiga was still here. He ate takeout, mostly, and soon there were empty cartons of food everywhere. 

So when Kuroko came to his door several weeks later with the news that Taiga had gone to America again, he was confronted with the results of Daiki’s deterioration. 

“Aomine-kun,” he said solemnly, his eyes wide, “you’re living like a pig.” 

“Shut up, Tetsu,” Daiki said, pulling him inside the apartment and closing the door. The way Kuroko was sniffing the air and making faces was frankly offensive. Daiki lived here and he could attest that it wasn’t that bad. 

“You may remember what I said when you and Kagami-kun decided to be romantically involved,” Kuroko said, delicately stepping over a discarded pair of jeans -- it had been Taiga’s, originally, but Daiki had made it his own. “I was not exaggerating when I said that I would be unmerciful if you should ever hurt him.” 

“You always take his side,” Daiki said, aware of how whiny he sounded, even to his own ears. “Even though you’ve known me longer.” 

“It’s because I’ve known you longer than I know what heights and lows you’re capable of,” Kuroko said, aiming his piercing stare directly at Daiki. 

“He was cheating on me,” Daiki said, bluntly. 

“No.” 

Daiki bristled at the cool dismissal of Kuroko’s words. 

“I know you like to interfere, _Tetsu_ , but I know what I saw. I don’t ask for a lot, but if I can’t have loyalty than I didn’t what anything else.” 

“Aomine-kun... “ Kuroko sighed. “Take a look at the bottom left hand corner of your sock drawer. Kagami-kun was speaking of that to his brother, not anything else or with anyone else.” 

*

Kuroko had long gone, but Daiki waited until the next morning before he went digging in his sock drawer. He wouldn’t find anything, he knew. It was dumb that he was even looking.

“What the fuck am I even looking for?” he muttered to himself, throwing the socks back where they were before. As he did so, he saw a small jewelry box tumble out of one of his tube socks. He snatched it up, like like someone else would snoop in and take it before he had the chance. 

Inside was a pair of rings, engagement rings with his and Taiga’s names engraved on them. Daiki’s heart squeezed in his chest as he looked at the rings and contemplated, for the first time, the magnitude of his loss.

*

He tried to call Taiga but the call could not be completed. Taiga had blocked him. 

*

He didn’t think about it. He went to the gym. Trained like crazy. Played in his games, went to his part-time job afterwards and every second of the day, he thought about how stupid he had been. His game suffered for it, and he spilled drinks on paying customers and was rude to them instead of apologetic. He couldn’t be fired from this job, at least, since his parents owned the bar. He was there to get involved with the business, to learn by doing. But as far as he was concerned, all he had learned was that he’d rather leave it up to the managers, and that if he ever heard another person’s sob story over spilled liquor, it would be too soon. 

Still, it wasn’t all bad. One evening both Kise and Satsuki appeared at the bar. 

“Are you two going to scream at me for being a dumbass?” Daiki said suspiciously. 

“Oh, Dai-chan, you know screaming isn’t my style,” Satsuki said. “Besides, I’m sure Tetsu-kun did a wonderful job already!” 

“I’m just sad that I lost to Murasakibara over how long you’d last,” Kise said with a pout. “If you’d only hung on a little longer, Aominecchi!” 

“I think I preferred the screaming,” Daiki said drily. 

But neither Satsuki nor Kise mentioned Taiga again. They were both eager to talk about their own burgeoning careers, and, for once, Daiki was glad to listen about the exciting worlds of international modeling and international sports management, and forget his own problems. It was only when the shift supervisor yelled at him for neglecting the other customers that he had to face reality again. 

*

He called Taiga’s number and got a busy signal. 

*

It was four months on and he was drunk enough to feel reckless that he called Taiga for the last time with a new number. It was going to be the last time, he promised himself. There was nothing for it but to move on. It was noon here, so it would be night in Los Angeles. He was sure Taiga wouldn’t pick up, so he didn’t have anything ready when he heard a familiar _hello_ on the other end of the line. 

“Ah, it’s me,” Daiki said, feeling incredibly stupid.

There was long enough silence that he thought Taiga had hung up. But at last Taiga sighed and said, “What do you want, Aomine?” 

Ouch. Daiki cleared his throat. “Okay, I was a dick and I was wrong. I’m sorry I hurt you and I understand that you can’t see me again. Just -- sorry.” 

“Did Kuroko put you up to this?”

“Oh, yeah, Kuroko has his thumb up my ass and is making my mouth move.” 

“... Uh?” 

“No, you dumbass. I haven’t seen him for months. Not since you left. He blames me for it.”

“That’s fine, isn’t it? Since it is your fault.” 

“Okay, okay, it’s my fault. I admit it. I said I was sorry. When are you coming back?” 

“... Daiki,” Taiga said, sounding regretful for the first time. “I signed a contract. I can’t go back to Japan until the season is over, and even then, I can’t stay.” 

“Oh.” Daiki felt, stronger than ever, the reality of their separation. There were too many miles between them and he felt sick with loneliness and regret. “That’s fine. It’s not like I miss you or anything. I’m not a girl.” 

“You’re such a fucking jerk,” Taiga said with a snort. “I don’t miss you either. My apartment in LA smells a lot better without you stinking up the place.” 

“Fuck whatever Kuroko told you, I hired a cleaner to come in every week.” 

“Kuroko didn’t tell me anything. Oh God, Daiki, you were so heartbroken that you couldn’t even clean after yourself?” 

“I can’t even do it normally,” Daiki said. 

Taiga laughed before he suddenly sucked in his breath. “Shit, I need to go to bed. I took a sleeping pill, I have a game tomorrow.”

They said their goodbyes, but it didn’t feel final at all. 

*

As soon as Daiki got off the phone with Taiga, he called Satsuki to beg her for a favor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for SASO 2017, Round 2: Tic-Tac-Toe, for the [prompt:](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22249.html?thread=11660521#cmt11660521%22) _AoKaga, A3, things you said with no space between us._

There was nothing about LA that Daiki liked.

The air was different, and even the smog was different than Tokyo’s, scented with car exhaust and with traces of strange flowers and odd food. The moment he strode through the line at LAX to meet his new manager, he ran afoul of one of the many paparazzis who lined the arrivals gate, desperately eager to snap a shot of an exhausted-looking celebrity. The photographer stared at Daiki for a moment before he shrugged, dismissing him as a random Asian guy, not important. Fuck him. 

“Mr. Aomine?” someone said behind him and Daiki whirled around to see a young black woman with curly brown hair with a clipboard in hand. She reminded him of Satsuki -- it was probably the clipboard, plus that air of imperturbable calm that he knew from Satsuki took care to cultivate -- so that was all right. 

Satsuki herself had pulled a lot of strings for him to be here, on a six month trial run playing for the _other_ LA professional basketball team. 

The woman introduced herself as Mia and held out her hand. Daiki shook it and apologized. “My English’s not great.” 

Mia smiled. “My Japanese is way worse. Don't worry, we'll get by somehow. Do you want to go to the apartment to rest, or to practice?” 

Daiki wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep for a hundred years. But he thought that something as familiar as practice might steady him -- even if it was something he usually avoided -- and so he picked that. 

“Exercise’s supposed to be good for jet lag, right?” Daiki said with a huge yawn. Mia nodded and handed him a bottle of water. He'd finished it by the time they'd left the airport. 

*

Daiki occasionally spoke to Taiga over the phone, but he hadn't told him what he was planning. There was a fear, in the back of his mind, that Taiga would tell him not to bother, that he had moved on. And Daiki, who was trying to be more fair to Taiga these days, knew that Taiga had no reason to wait for him.

But -- God, what if he didn't?

Daiki’s new teammates don't know what to make of him. It was the same with him. It wasn't until he got his hands on the ball that he felt comfortable. He wanted to show them what he could _do_. 

Practice went on until late at night and Daiki was wired enough to keep going, even if his teammates had fallen off as the night wore on. Finally, the court was empty except for him and another rookie named Dashiell -- Dash for short -- who seemed to have marked him as a rival for the get-go. 

He wasn't bad -- his doggedness reminded Daiki of Kuroko, a little -- but eventually he too gave up and flopped on to the bench, wiping off sweat from his forehead with one of the team-branded towels. He threw one at Daiki, who caught it, and plopped down next to him. 

“This was the craziest practice I've ever had,” Dash confessed. “You're an animal out there. How come you just came over, man? You should've been here the whole time.” 

Daiki shrugged. He'd refused so many offers -- from colleges at first, and then professional teams here in America. He thought the J-league was good enough for him -- besides, Jabberwocky had really soured him on Americans for a long time. 

But Taiga was here, and now so was he. 

“What am I supposed to call you?” Dash asked, persistent. Forget Kuroko, this guy reminded him of Sakurai. Annoyingly determined. 

Daiki shrugged. “Aomine.” 

“Y’all are so formal. What, we gotta know each for a few years before I can call you by your first name?” 

“You have to buy me dinner first,” Daiki said seriously. He pretended to be puzzled when Dash started laughing. 

Soon Mia came around to bring him to his apartment. It was already furnished and there were fresh groceries in the fridge. Daiki crawled into the too-soft bed and dreamt of -- what else? Basketball, of course. 

*

“Why didn't you tell me you were coming over here?” Taiga actually sounded upset, which made no sense to him. Daiki hadn't joined Taiga’s team, had he? He'd joined their rivals, so that was all right. He yawned loudly and blinked at Taiga, who was glaring at him from the window of his Skype call. 

“Why not? You don't think I could do it? Fuck off, Taiga. It was just a matter of making a few calls.” 

Taiga sighed, loudly. “What are we even arguing about?” 

“Ah? I don't know, you're the one who's acting weird.” Daiki stretched out and yawned. “Guess you're not happy to see me, right?” 

“That's not true, assface.” 

“As if you're not super into both my ass and my face,” Daiki muttered. His stomach grumbled, loudly. “I'm hungry, come over and feed me.” 

“You were a lot easier to miss when you were thousands of miles away, you know.” 

“What's the matter? You think I'm going to beat you on your home turf?” Daiki grinned, “I mean, you're right to be worried. I'm not going to go easy on you just because I --” 

“Just because you what?” 

“Forget it.” Daiki cast his eyes upward in an attitude of extreme carelessness. “When are you coming?” 

“We don't even live close to each other, the traffic is killer this time of day --” 

“So, an hour? Take the train. I’ll text you the address.” 

“Daiki, you’re an idiot. Welcome to LA. I’ll see you around.” 

*

A couple of days later, Daiki was snoozing on the couch when he heard the doorbell ring. The only person who knew where he lived was Mia and the pizza guy that had brought him dinner last night. He actually still had some in the fridge … He opened the door and there stood Taiga with an armful of groceries. 

“I'm only doing this once, you hear me?” Taiga said huffily as he came in. He went directly into the kitchen and set down the groceries on the counter. “Just because I know you don't have any food.” 

“Stop babying me, I'm a grown man,” Daiki said, following him into the kitchen, “I know how to order food. Even in English. _I want an extra large with pepperoni and sausage._ See?” 

Taiga turned back and looked at him with despair apparent in his eyes. Daiki took a few steps closer, until he and Taiga were standing eye to eye. “I missed you,” he said, which was dumb and corny but utterly true. 

“Daiki…” 

Daiki leaned in and kissed Taiga. When was the last time he'd been able to do that? Months ago, but it felt like forever. Taiga still tasted the same, he was still something Daiki could never get enough of. 

But Taiga pulled away. “Daiki, we need to talk.” 

_Oh shit._

*

Over a dinner of beef bourguignon (that Daiki insisted on eating with a bowl of rice or else it would be too weird), Taiga said, “I think we should try to be friends again.” 

Daiki cocked his head. “Huh? Were we friends before?” 

Taiga kicked him from under the table. “Asshole. How else would you describe us?” 

“We were rivals. I never had one until you. I didn't think it was possible, before. My friends -- well, they're different, like Tetsu. Do you understand?” 

“No,” Taiga said bluntly. “I'm kind of offended that you didn't consider me your friend though. After I got used to your horrible personality, I thought you were an okay friend.” 

“Fine! I can do friends. I have friends. I have Satsuki, Tetsu and you. It's fine. I've also made friends in America. I'm definitely capable of having friends.” 

“You… This is not gonna work, is it?” 

“I won't give up before you do,” Daiki said, grabbing the largest piece of meat from Taiga’s bowl with his chopsticks. At Taiga’s disgusting look, Daiki popped it in his mouth and grinned. 

After dinner, they played video games and argued over the score. At the end of the night, Taiga went home after biding Daiki a sleepy good night. 

That night Daiki slept alone in his bed and dreamt about Taiga.

*

“Yo, do you want to go to the farmers’ market?” 

Daiki didn’t really know what Taiga was talking about, and also it was early on his day off, so he rolled away and ignored him. If he’d known Taiga was going to do this, he wouldn’t have bothered sleeping over. 

But Taiga kept poking at him, however, until Daiki gave up. They went out crazy early and the traffic was still bad. Daiki complained about it until he fell asleep in the back. When they got there, Daiki was momentarily staggered by the sheer amount of food on sale. 

He immediately lost sight of Taiga, of course, so he got a cup of coffee and wandered around a little bit. Then he heard someone speaking in Japanese, and he whipped around to see none other than Himuro Tatsuya, Taiga’s brother, chatting on the phone and walking with -- could it really be _Nijimura Shuuzou?_

Daiki hadn’t seen Nijimura since he’d graduated from Teikou, and really, he’d never really thought his former captain until this very moment. All he knew now was that he wanted to avoid this meeting if he could. So Daiki ducked behind a pallet of tomatoes as they walked by. They didn’t notice him. 

He was about to heavy a sigh of relief when he heard Taiga calling his name … And Himuro’s. 

*

It was a really awkward meeting. Not with Nijimura, who was about as eager to hear about the fates of the members of the Teikou Boy’s Basketball Club as Daiki was to tell him. Eventually, the conversation between them died off into a trickle. Daiki stuffed his hands in his pocket and looked away. He’d admired Nijimura at school, in his way, but it seemed that his senpai had grown up to be an entirely ordinary adult.

(What did he work in? Daiki hadn’t asked, but Nijimura had answered anyway. In tech, he said. Which could mean he was some IT guy at a bank or one those annoying techbros who had courtside seats during games, who wore sunglasses inside like they were cool -- or anything in between.) 

“I’m kind of surprised at you though,” Nijimura said, nodding to Taiga. “You were really focused on … other things when I knew you.” 

“Oh, boobs?” Daiki said. “It’s cool, I still like ‘em.” 

“And gravure magazines.” 

“Well. My tastes in pornography is much more sophisticated now. And now everything’s on my phone.”

“Oi, Eromine,” Taiga called back to him, “don’t freak out your senpai like that.” 

“You’re not,” Nijimura said, “Actually, I do something related …” And suddenly Daiki was _much_ more interested in what exactly Nijimura did in tech. 

Meanwhile, Taiga and Himuro were talking a mile a minute, mostly about things and people Daiki didn’t know. At one point Himuro turned around and looked at Daiki. “You two are good now?” he asked Taiga. 

“We're great,” Daiki said with a big, fake smile. 

“We're fine,” Taiga answered. “Okay, so there's my favorite meat kiosk. Let's go see what they have now, okay?” 

After the farmers’ market, Taiga invited them over to his house for lunch -- which was actually a cruel trick to get them to chop up and freeze the vegetables that he wasn't going to use this week. 

Daiki was stuck chopping peppers for the jam Taiga was planning to make to go with his lamb. He unthinkingly stuck his finger into his ear halfway through and then had to quit on the grounds that he was going to die and go deaf if he continued. 

“You really are an idiot,” Himuro muttered as he swiped a cooling cottonball on the burning shell of Daiki’s ear. Daiki glared at him, but couldn’t argue with his conclusions. He knew that he had to get over his jealousy of Himuro and Taiga’s relationship, sooner or later, but still, that guy. What a dick. 

“I’m -- uh,” Daiki said, staring at Himuro’s visible eye. “Your hair is dumb.” 

Himuro laughed at that, surprisingly, and reluctantly, Daiki joined him. 

(And the pepper jam really was good with the lamb.)

*

Besides Dash, Daiki was slow to really make friends on the team. Besides the language barrier, Daiki had learned long ago that his talent (and his accompanying confidence) mostly alienated other players. His game was attracting attention though, and even if the seats for their games were usually sold out anyway, there were more and more people who came to see him. There was speculation that the team would finally, finally make it to the playoffs this year, which they hadn't done in more than thirty years. 

(If Daiki hadn't been so concerned with staying in the same city as Taiga, he might have considered joining another, better team. But that was neither here nor there.) 

He tried to keep his head down and go to practice. Daiki wanted to win, of course, but what he wanted the most was to play against -- and win against -- Taiga. So if he had to drag the whole team up with him, he would. 

The first time he was on the court with Taiga, though, that was something. Better than sex, maybe. They both slipped into the Zone just like that, and stayed there for the rest of the game. It was like the rest of the world had faded into nothing and everything had narrowed to just the two of them. 

Daiki won against Taiga (although his team did end up losing.) 

*

It was Memorial Day weekend and Taiga was away doing some interviews or something, and Daiki had planned on sleeping in all day when Dash called him to invite him to his family’s cookout. “You can, uh, bring Mia along if you want,” he said, sounding nervous. 

“You don't think she has plans?” Daiki said skeptically. 

“Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask!” 

Daiki didn't see Mia as much as he had when he first got here (it had fallen to Taiga to be his official America-wrangler), but he still had her on speed dial. “You wanna go? I think Dash likes you,” he told her, blunt as always. 

Surprisingly, she agreed within seconds. 

They took an Uber over to Dash’s parents’ house, which was in a completely different part of the city than Daiki had been before. The smell of sizzling meat on the grill made Daiki’s stomach roar and while he tried to be polite to everyone he was being introduced to, it was really obvious that he was here for the food. And when he got it, he almost fainted with happiness. 

Hours later, stuffed full with meat and buzzed with quite a lot of beers, Daiki slid into the seat of a waiting Uber and saw a notification on his phone. Curious, he opened it to see that it was an interview of Taiga -- the headline read: _Rising NBA Star Taiga Kagami Talks to the Channel 7 Team About the Importance of Literacy._

And he looked so stupid, so earnest and so fucking _perfect_ that Daiki started laughing in the back seat, freaking out his driver in the process. He told the driver to go to Taiga’s house instead of his own. 

*

Taiga wasn't there when Daiki arrived, but he had an extra key. He went inside and took a shower, helped himself to some of Taiga’s clothes and then some food from Taiga’s fridge. Finally, he curled up on Taiga’s bed and went to sleep. 

Later, Daiki was awakened by a finger poking at his ribs. “You worthless guy,” Taiga said, “you left your clothes scattered all over the place like you live here.” 

Daiki blinked up at him and then sat up. “Taiga, I don’t want to do this anymore.” 

“Do what?” 

“Pretend that I’m okay with us being friends. I fucking moved to another country for you -- shit, I --” He got up and picked up his pants, which had been draped over one of Taiga’s recliners. In his wallet was the set of rings he’d found in his sock drawer what seemed so long ago. He dropped it into Taiga’s open hands. 

“You’ve been carrying this around?” Taiga said, sounding oddly choked. 

“Say you don’t love me anymore and I’ll go, I won’t bother you anymore,” Daiki said, sounding sullen and miserable even to his own ears. 

“I don’t know what I was thinking, we’re way too immature to get married,” Taiga said distractedly. He rolled the rings around in his hands, apparently deep in thought. 

“Hey, pay attention to me,” Daiki said. 

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Taiga said, looking at him. “You broke my heart for no reason at all. I should hate you.”

“... Yeah, okay.” 

“But I don’t want you to go.” Taiga pulled Daiki into a tight embrace and kissed him hard. For a moment, Daiki reeled, breathless. He wanted this so badly that he didn’t know how to react at first. Hang back? Let Taiga take charge? But Taiga was still dressed while Daiki was rapidly losing the few clothes he did have. That couldn’t stand, not at all. 

And Taiga was stronger than he had been before, harder against him. 

“Listen, Taiga,” Daiki said seriously, “I missed your dick, so let me have it.” 

“God, you _dick_ ,” Taiga said, grinning. 

*

Soon there was hardly any space in between their bodies for anything like doubt or guilt. This was how it worked best, whether they were playing basketball or having sex. Words only confused things, fucked up things that should be clear. Daiki was eloquent with his body and Taiga was passionate with his. 

Daiki couldn't stop touching him, because he could, be us he has finally come back home. “I love you,” he said to Taiga, his lips dragging across Taiga’s skin. Taiga thrust into him, hard and Daiki let out a sigh of pleasure. He let Taiga set the pace, fucking him as hard and as deep as he wanted it. 

When Taiga pulled out, the tip of his cock wet with come, Daiki stared at hopelessly, overcome. He'd already come, but he felt like he might again. It was too much. 

“I know you love me, asshole,” Taiga said, collapsing beside him and plastering himself against Daiki’s back, hot and humid. “So marry me already.” 

“We’d get divorced in like six months,” Daiki grumbled. 

“So?” 

“So, Bakagami? You wanna give me half your money at the end of it? I'm not signing a prenup.” 

“I don't care, it's just money.” 

“You're such a fucking rich boy,” Daiki said, rolling his eyes. It was times like this he couldn't forget how different their upbringings had been. His parents hadn't been poor, exactly, but he'd never be able to say _it's just money_ \-- and mean it. 

“Are you saying yes or no?” 

“I'm saying yes,” Daiki said, turning around and kissing him. “I want half of your money and your entire fucking heart. You got it?” 

“Yeah,” Taiga said with a slow smile. “I got it.” 

*

Sometime during the night, Daiki woke up to with Taiga wrapped around him like a monster koala bear. He was scowling, slightly, and his lips twitched. Daiki wondered if he was dreaming about basketball. 

Suddenly Daiki’s phone dinged and he reached out and grabbed it from the bedside table. It was a text from Kuroko, congratulating him and Taiga for trying again. How had he known this? Daiki had a sudden image of Kuroko sitting alone in his apartment, with a fluffy white cat in his hands, knowing exactly what was happening half a world away. Diabolical. 

_Thanks_.

_Hurt him again and I’ll Ignite Pass right through your guts. (′ʘ⌄ʘ‵)_

_I won’t._

Daiki put down the phone and looked over at Taiga, who was edging him out of bed, slowly but surely. He began to write again.

_But what if I fuck up again? Why if I’m just not good?_

_Talk to me,_ wrote Kuroko. _You have people all around you who love you and want to help. Don’t forget about us._

Daiki texted back his thanks and fell back asleep next to Taiga. He woke up later, to hear Taiga on the phone with someone. He paused his conversation to look over at Daiki and said, “Do you want pancakes today?” 

“When are you going to go back to Japanese food? I’m tired of all this Western diet shit.” 

Taiga rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his phone. 

“Hey, Taiga?” 

“What is it?” Taiga said, bending down to pick up a shirt. 

“I love you.” 

“... Corny fuck,” Taiga said, the tips of his ears turning read. “I love you too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was a journey! A short journey from the end of my fingers to Aomine and Kagami's dicks touching. Thank you for reading.


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